Page 38 of Before We’re More Than Friends (When We Faced the Music #1)

It didn’t take long for his eyes to make their way to my wrists. He examined them for a few seconds before swallowing.

“I took it off,” I said as I shifted in my seat. The idea of being close to him after all the emotions I’d been through in the past how many hours made my stomach twist .

He didn’t even need me to clarify. “Oh.” He suddenly gained interest in his textbook. “I’m sorry.”

I knew that wasn’t an apology for what he had done. “I’ll talk about it tomorrow, okay? I’m not really in the mood right now.” I traced my fingers along all the bracelets on my left wrist. “But it does feel empty without it there.”

Oh crap, I wasn’t supposed to say that .

“I understand.” He still didn’t look up at me.

Guilty as charged .

I waited a few seconds for him to say anything. Give in to his guilty conscience and admit that he’d been the one behind the screen the whole time. Shoot, maybe just drop a small hint that he and Alex were the same person. Anything.

But he kept his silence as Mrs. Bennett walked into the classroom with her clacking heels and excessive makeup. He didn’t take the last chance I was giving him to tell the truth.

Tomorrow night, he wouldn’t have a reason to look at me like this and swallow his words again. He’d blown every opportunity given to him to speak the truth, so it was time to speak mine.

Somewhere in the Sky’s set wrapped up their two-hour set at nine o’clock. I’d been in a bad mood beforehand, but their uplifting music had taken my mind off everything with Dallas. For the most part.

“I hate that it’s already over,” Sienna said, gazing at Ivan with dreamy eyes as he talked to his fans at their table. All of them looked just as starry-eyed as Sienna did.

“You should talk to him,” I said, still only halfway through my pastries. “He always walks around to talk to fans, but you sit there staring every time. ”

Gracelynn nudged her shoulder. “Yeah, finally make your dream a reality.”

“What?” Sienna’s cheeks turned scarlet. “No, no, there’s no way?—”

“Ivan!” Arielle shouted. “Come over here!”

Sienna gasped, terror washing over her face. “You?—”

“Are welcome,” Arielle finished with a grin.

Ivan looked over for a split second, searching the café for who had just called his name.

“Ivan!” Emma waved her hands, knocking Sienna in the face. “Come here!”

“We’re leaving,” Sienna said, her cheeks still red as she grabbed Emma and left the booth. “Come on, Adam.”

“But I want to meet Ivan!” Adam whined, sticking his bottom lip out. “You’re very bad at being in love, you know. Even your friends can do better.”

Gracelynn put a hand to her chest. “Wow, thanks.”

“I’m not in love,” Sienna hissed, already pulling Adam out of our booth. “Let’s go .”

I looked over at Ivan, who was now talking with a couple. Sienna lucked out this time.

“You’re missing out!” Arielle called as Sienna left with the twins. She looked at Gracelynn, who was checking her purse to make sure she had everything. “You’re scared of Ivan, too?”

Gracelynn laughed. “No, I’m going to get a head start on homework so I can focus on dancing and volunteering at church this weekend.”

Arielle nodded. “How’s your mom doing?”

“A thorn in my side as always.” Gracelynn put her trash on the tray before sliding out of the booth. “But I wouldn’t know how she’s doing. She doesn’t have a vulnerable bone in her body.”

I nodded with a sympathetic frown. The Naysmiths used to be a close and happy family until Gracelynn’s sister Faith died in a drunk driving accident.

Since then, her parents had completely flipped, being stricter with their two remaining children.

Gracelynn knew it was their way of grieving, but that didn’t excuse how cold and controlling they could be.

“Things still getting better with your mom?” Gracelynn asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.

“She’s been making us dinner every night,” I said with a smile. “And she hasn’t been drinking.”

“We’re proud of her,” Arielle said, straightening her posture with pride.

“I’m glad.” Gracelynn smiled. “Have a great night.”

“You too,” Arielle and I said as we waved goodbye to her.

As Gracelynn walked away, Arielle got out of the booth and sat where the girls had been sitting.

“Dang, am I that bad to sit next to?” I said, feigning offense.

She giggled, pulling her Chocolate Mocha toward her. “It’s just easier to talk to you this way.” She tapped her fingers against the table. “So . . . have you read Dad’s letter yet?”

My spirits plummeted. “Oh, gosh.”

Her face fell. “Sorry, we don’t have to talk about it?—”

“No, it’s not that.” I sighed. “It’s kind of a long story. I don’t know if you heard me crying in my room last night or not.”

She shook her head. “I was listening to music.”

“One of my playlists?”

“Like I’d listen to one of your depressing playlists.”

I gasped. “They are not depressing . They are emotional masterpieces.”

“Okay, Headphone Headmistress.” Arielle took a sip of her mocha. “I didn’t know you were crying last night, though. The letter . . .” She bit her lip. “It made me cry too. He sounded like he was emailing his clients, not writing to his daughter from prison. A robot sounds more humane than he had. ”

“I’m sorry. That’s how I felt too.” I reached for her hand and squeezed it. “But I didn’t cry because of the letter.”

Her eyebrows lifted. “What happened?”

I sighed. “Remember how Alex hasn’t talked to me since he moved to Boulder Valley?”

Her face hardened, and she tugged her necklace. “Yeah.”

“I impulsively messaged him about the letter, and he finally logged on to talk to me.”

Arielle blinked in confusion. “But that’s good, right?”

I shook my head. “I called him out for ghosting me, and he admitted he did it on purpose. But he couldn’t explain why.” I played with one of my hoop earrings. “Last month, I wanted to share my real name and meet him, but he freaked out. He wants to keep me at a distance when I want to let him in.”

“Oh.” Arielle swallowed, not meeting my eyes. “I’m sorry. You don’t deserve that.” She glanced at my wrists. “So that’s why you’re not wearing his bracelet.”

“I don’t think I’ll be wearing it anytime soon,” I said.

“Yeah.” She swallowed again. Was something stuck in her throat?

“I think something’s going on with him that he doesn’t want to confess yet.

I don’t agree with how he’s handling it because you deserved him to be honest with you from the start, but it’s just a thought. There’s more to the bigger picture.”

I raised an eyebrow at her. Something about the way she couldn’t look me in the eye and twisted her necklace, her nervous habit, made me suspicious. “That’s a bit specific.”

“Maybe a little,” she admitted, averting her gaze to the people who walked by.

“It’s just that neither of you has been the same since the move.

You were already down about the situation with our parents, but him moving and acting differently didn’t help with that.

” She bit her lip and finally looked me in the eyes.

“It’s crazy that he’s living here, you know? ”

“All of this is crazy—” I stopped in my tracks, the dots connecting in my brain. “Wait a minute. I feel like you’re not talking about Alex.”

“I am.” Arielle twisted her hair around her finger and looked away. She was lying.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “You’re talking about Dallas.”

Her eyes grew wide. “You know who he is?”

“ You know who he is?”

“Are you talking about Dallas or Alex?”

“They’re the same person!” I threw my hands in the air, a few people looking at us with surprise. I lowered my voice. “When did you find out?”

“I . . .” Her words came out in a rush. “Well, when you first talked about things with him, I realized how many similarities his situation had with Dallas’s.

I asked him some questions to get to know him better, but he sounded suspicious of me, so I stopped—which was my first sign that something was off.

And when I came here Wednesday night with Gracelynn, I was getting my food when I heard Hayden tell Dallas to tell you the truth about being your pen pal.

I mean, I already kind of knew Dallas and Alex were probably the same person, but that confirmed it. ”

I gripped the table, trying to keep myself from going frantic. “And you weren’t going to tell me this?”

“I’m sorry!” Arielle said, and a few people looked at us again. “I was trying to drop hints because I wanted him to tell you himself or for you to figure it out on your own. It wasn’t my place to tell.”

“It is when you know I’m walking blind!” Hurt cut deep into my chest. First, my own best friend had been lying to me, and now my sister. “If I had known Hayden didn’t want to go out with you before you found out yourself, I would’ve told you as soon as possible. ”

“Don’t bring that into this conversation,” she snapped. “I broke up with him anyway.”

“Why? Isn’t it the same thing? He didn’t confess because he didn’t want to hurt your feelings, and so did Dallas to me because . . .” I put my head in my hands, my chest aching with every breath. “It doesn’t matter what the reason was. Both of them lied.”

“Raina.” She got out of her seat to scoot next to me. “I’m sorry.” She put her hand on my shoulder, but I shrugged it away.

“No, I’m sorry I seem to be the butt of everyone’s jokes.” I shot my head up. “Oh, I’m sorry, the butt of everyone’s lies .”

“Raina, I’m sorry,” Arielle said again. “I should’ve told you my suspicions from the beginning. I hope you can forgive me.”

“I will,” I said, gesturing for her to move so I could get out of the booth. “Just not now.” With that, I slung my cross-body purse over me. “Let’s go home.” Before I burst into tears in front of everyone.

“Okay.” Arielle cleaned our table off before following me out of the café.

“I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you,” she said once we were outside, the moonlight above way too bright for a night like this.

“I don’t want to talk anymore,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. I knew I was being cold, but I had a right to be upset. “Keeping things seems to run in the family.”

Arielle let out a sharp gasp. “You do not need to go there, Raina.”

I faced her, walking backward to the car. “Well, I did.”

Even in the dark, I could see hurt wash over her face. Guilt twisted in my stomach, but it was too late to take back what I said.

It was too late to take anything back.

Arielle got in the car and started it once I buckled up, and she didn’t speak at all. Instead, she turned on one of the playlists I’d shared with her and hummed along to my favorite Charm Street song.

But it still didn’t stop the tears from flowing down my cheeks once they started. After only a few minutes, I noticed she was crying too.